Mike Michaud the top fundraiser among Maine candidates for U.S. House

Poll

AUGUSTA, Maine — In the latest federal campaign finance reports, which were due on Sunday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud tops all of Maine’s U.S. House candidates — from either district — with $714,192 raised in his campaign.

Reports with the Federal Election Commission show Michaud with $497,398 in cash on hand after raising $200,413 during the first quarter of 2012. But Michaud’s Republican challenger in the 2nd District, Kevin Raye, says his campaign outpaced the incumbent in contributions from Mainers during the first three months of 2012.

Raye, the Maine Senate president who filed his candidacy in January, has raised $152,476 during the campaign so far, and all of that fundraising took place between Jan. 1 and March 31. Raye’s campaign announced Monday that of the Republican’s total, nearly $152,000 of it came from individual donors, with 89 percent of those donors being Mainers.

In comparison, he said, Michaud raised $84,703 from individual donors during the first quarter of 2012.

“The numbers out today reflect just how fully Congressman Michaud has embraced his Washington-insider status, literally becoming the PAC-man of the Maine Congressional delegation,” said Kathie Summers-Grice, spokeswoman for the Raye campaign, in a statement.

Raye reports $115,900 in cash on hand.

In southern Maine’s 1st District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Chellie Pingree reports $512,744 in contributions overall and $173,651 in cash on hand in her campaign for a third term.

“Last quarter, over 1,800 people contributed to Chellie’s campaign,” Kate Simmons, Pingree’s campaign manager, told the Bangor Daily News. “We’re thrilled with the grass-roots enthusiasm and support that there is for Chellie, and we’re going to keep working hard to win on Election Day.”

Republican challenger Patrick Calder, a Portland mariner, reported having $617.85 on hand at the end of the quarter after having raised $475 during the period.

Figures for another Republican candidate, state Senate Majority Leader Jon Courtney of Springvale, were not immediately available. FEC spokeswoman Judith Ingram said Monday candidates are only required to file campaign finance reports when they cross the $5,000 threshold in raised or spent funds. She said Courtney’s statement of candidacy was posted on March 21, just 10 days before the quarter ended, so it’s likely the campaign is in its early stages and had not yet included significant fundraising by the end of the quarter.

Ingram also said U.S. Senate candidates are not required to file campaign finance reports electronically, and paper filings can take up to a week to process. None of the Maine candidates for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe — a field that includes four Democrats, six Republicans and one independent — were posted to the FEC database by Monday afternoon.

Independent candidate Angus King’s campaign volunteered the former two-term governor’s fundraising progress in a news release, however. King’s campaign announced it had $142,322 on hand after raising $135,820 “in the first two weeks of the campaign.”

Campaign manager Kay Rand said King has set a goal of raising between $3 million and $5 million for the campaign.

“We are pleased that the donations have come so quickly,” Rand said in a statement. “People know that the partisan gridlock that is crippling our country must change. … We expect big outside money, with heavy partisan influence, to come flooding into Maine, which means we will have to raise a significant amount.”

Seeking the Republican nomination for Senate are state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin, state Attorney General William Schneider, Secretary of State Charlie Summers, former Senate President Rick Bennett, Lisbon businessman Scott D’Amboise and state Sen. Debra Plowman. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Cynthia Dill, former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Rep. Jon Hinck and Portland builder Benjamin Pollard are running for the party nod.